Red Hot ~Nikki Sixx

Part 49: Sticky Sweet

A/N—Holy crap! How did I let a month go by??? Ugh I am truly sorry and will try to get better.

Ashten froze, her breath catching in her chest as the voice drifted over to her. Her heart stopped completely for one beat, two beats, three - before it started to pound wildly.

The silence between them was deafening and the smothering tension made the air in the room thicker than molasses.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were Tommy," Ashten said quietly, clearing her throat as she took a step back. She was suddenly aware of how close they were. She could smell his most recent cigarette on his clothes mixed with the sweet scent of his cologne and that other scent. The one that is so distinctly Nikki.

They both stared at each other, eyes locked. Blue on green. Emerald on sapphire. And although they had been living less than a thousand feet away from one another for nearly a year, it seemed like they were both caught off guard for a moment, not expecting this turn of events. Not expecting to cross paths.

Nikki replied with just a shake of his head, his mouth pressed shut as he leaned against the still open refrigerator door. His eyes trailed from hers down to her feet and back, the ever present stoic expression impossible to read.

Ashten felt a shiver jolt through her body as his gaze lingered in her. She also felt her already fragile heart crack open a bit more and took his silence as a refusal to speak to her. She sucked in a breath, her anxiety building as the air in the room thickened while bad thoughts kept shooting across her brain, each one worse than the last.

He doesn't want to speak to me

He hates me

Is he gonna tell me he wants to bone someone else? Because that would truly suck.

Her gaze scanned him from his eyes down to the black Henley stretched nicely across his torso, unbuttoned just enough to show off his broad shoulders and toned chest.

Looking at him was like pushing on a bruise.

If only he was less attractive, she thought, trying to maintain some composure even though part of her wanted to climb him like a tree.

His unfairly gorgeous eyes weren't helping the matter and Ashten had to force herself to look away. But just as she began attempting to tear her eyes away she caught something flicker in his emerald globes.

A gleam. And a suspiciously innocent visage.

Upon second glance she noticed he was hiding something behind his back.

Her eyes shifted to the island, again taking notice of a conspicuously empty spot on the cooling rack which just a few minutes prior housed a cupcake.

"Do you have something in your mouth?" She cocked her eyebrow at him in accusation.

Nikki shook his head again adamantly, his lips still smashed together tightly around his clearly full mouth as the lie spread across his face.

"Really?" You're sure about that?"

"Mhmm." Nikki nodded quickly, his mouth still clamped together.

"Ok." Ashten crossed her arms over her chest. "I'll give you a thousand dollars to whistle right now."

Nikki's eyebrows quickly lifted in surprise before furrowing in thought and concentration. He took in a breath through his nose and puckered before attempting a whistle. There's something strained about the way he inhales, the way he holds that breath as he looks at her. Like he's knows he's about to get into trouble. And likes it.